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Year One in the Books

March 30, 2020

Executive Vice President and General Manager Mike Elias and Manager Brandon Hyde enter the 2020 season having completed their first year with the Orioles. Each were new to their positions and the organization after successful stints with previous teams.

While the Major League team is going through a rebuilding period, the 2019 season saw an emergence of exciting, young players who provided a variety of unforgettable moments. The minor league system made major strides, as national publications now rank the Orioles organization in their top 10 lists. Two Orioles affiliates finished the 2019 season with the best record in their leagues, Double-A Bowie and Class-A Delmarva reached the postseason, and the Gulf Coast League Orioles finished with the best record in their league’s hurricane-shortened season.

Orioles Magazine caught up with Elias and Hyde before their sophomore Orioles season.

What have you learned from your first year in Baltimore?

ELIAS: I have learned there is so much talent already in this organization – more than was advertised to me when I got here. The pitchers in particular have blossomed with our new development program on the farm. Our system is now universally recognized as top-10 caliber. It gives me a great deal of hope.

HYDE: Where do I begin? I had a great experience in my first year as a manager in the big leagues. We knew going in that it was going to be tough from a win-loss standpoint, but I feel great about the culture that we started creating in our first year. We had a great group of coaches and players that truly cared about each other and worked extremely hard through game 162. I learned a lot about our players and what great character guys we have in the organization. Our win-loss record didn’t show it, but I feel really good about the work they put in and the exemplary attitude they came to the park with day in and day out. The same can be said for the coaches. Not one person in our clubhouse stopped working as hard as they could until the season was over.

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What is your favorite part of Baltimore?

ELIAS: I have many favorite spots in the city, but the people are my favorite part. I see Orioles hats, Orioles sweatshirts, and Orioles bumper stickers everywhere I go. I can’t imagine what it’s going to look like when we are back in the playoffs.

HYDE: I didn’t know much about Baltimore until this past season. I really enjoy golfing in my free time – just to get away from the craziness of the Major League season. I really enjoy a lot of the beautiful golf courses in the area. I also learned how many great restaurants there are in the city and I can’t wait to explore more and try new places. The fans of Baltimore were wonderful to me. When I see fans around town, they are so friendly to my family and me. Everyone is such a huge, diehard Orioles fan. I appreciate everyone that understands the tough process we are going through and I can’t wait until we bring a playoff team back to this great city.

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What has been the biggest surprise about the job?

ELIAS: I have been surprised to have so few surprises. I think running two scouting departments and a minor league system is a really good way to prepare yourself – you learn how to deal with budgets, employees, players, agents, midnight phone calls, etc. But this job is still much, much harder.

HYDE: I get asked that question a lot. Honestly, not many things surprised me. I’ve worked closely with four managers and have shared the office with a couple of them, so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. I guess the biggest surprise was how busy the manager is pre-game and how fast the day goes. I arrive to the ballpark fairly early, and no matter what time I get there, it feels like I have 10 minutes until BP, and the game starts soon after that. It’s hard to explain, but there are so many conversations that I would have with coaches, players, trainers, and front office folks that the day just flies by because there are so many unexpected things that come into your office on a daily basis.

What has been your favorite part of leading a team on the field and in the dugout?

HYDE: I absolutely love competing and being in the dugout. I feel extremely honored and fortunate to spend my summer nights in a Major League dugout and compete on a nightly basis. There’s nothing greater than collaborating with a group of people that you care about and working toward a common goal.

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As a coach, how rewarding is it to see players develop and grow in front of your eyes?

HYDE: My background is in player development and it has always been my passion. I’ve been fortunate to be a minor league hitting coach, manager, roving coordinator, and minor league director. My experiences in these roles helped me greatly when I became a Major League coach and now manager. It’s a special feeling knowing that you might have contributed in developing a young player into a productive Major League player. When I was with the Marlins and Cubs, they put a lot of resources into the minor league system. I was fortunate to work closely with young players like Giancarlo Stanton, Javy Báez, Jorge Soler, Kyle Hendricks, and Josh Johnson, among others. It’s been rewarding to watch those guys grow as ballplayers and into impact Major League players.

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How proud are you of the progress made in the farm system in just one year?

ELIAS: Well, we know we’ll have ups and downs as we go, but I do think we made a big impact this year in installing a culture of positivity and development in the minor leagues and improving some of the players using data. We’re going to graduate some key guys in 2020, but we have another huge draft coming up, so it will be fun to add even more talent then.

Last year saw many changes as the organization’s baseball operations were enhanced. What other changes are coming this year to the organization?

ELIAS: We are going to keep building and adding. In 2019, our big focuses were getting the international scouting, player development, and analytics up to speed. It meant a lot of new hires. In 2020, we’re going to have five full-time coaches at each minor league affiliate, which I believe may be a first in baseball. I expect that we will keep adding talent to our scouting ranks as we go along, too.

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What are you most looking forward to in 2020?

HYDE: I’m looking forward to the eight-plus month journey and watching our guys compete on a nightly basis. We have a great coaching staff, and I’m really looking forward to watching these guys work with the focus on improving our players on a daily basis. Even with tough circumstances [last year], I thought our clubhouse culture was phenomenal and I’m looking forward to continuing to create a great environment. I felt like many of our hitters really improved last year and I’m expecting more guys to improve offensively and would love to see a lot of our pitchers take the next step.

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This story was originally published in the 2020 Sarasota Edition of Orioles Magazine. Birdland Insider features original content from Orioles Magazine, including both new articles and stories from our archives.